


Didn't Mean to Stare

by immortalbanner



Series: Still Getting Better [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Bisexual Bruce Banner, Bisexual Thor, Fat Thor, Friendship, Gay Bucky Barnes, Gen, M/M, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), basically bucky never learnt that homophobia is less bad now, no professor hulk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-27
Updated: 2019-05-27
Packaged: 2020-03-20 07:21:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,661
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18987955
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/immortalbanner/pseuds/immortalbanner
Summary: Bucky didn't mean to stare, he really didn't. But he didn't think he'd ever see two men being affectionate so openly.





	Didn't Mean to Stare

**Author's Note:**

> This is just a bit of an idea I had, so I hope you enjoy.

Bucky had a bad habit, one that Steve pointed out years ago he had the tendency to stare and not realise it.

He stared at the local army guys when he was fifteen, wondering if one day he’d be like them. Steve ended up blowing a spitball in his hair and Bucky quickly looked away.

He stared at the girls at a bar, decked out in his army uniform. He didn’t want attention, but he did wonder if it made him more desirable to the local women.

His first time in New York City in the modern day and not brainwashed, he stared at the technology around him. The large buildings. His mind wasn’t really sure what to focus on. It was so much to take him and he was still partially processing.

And as Thor and Banner walked into the Avenger’s Base, hand in hand, he stared.

He still didn’t really know either of the men, though they both had shown attempts of friendship to him. He wasn’t sure if they saw him as much more than Steve’s friend who was brainwashed by the Hydra and a victim of the decimation.

What he was seeing right now wasn’t something he remembered seeing when he briefly met them in Wakanda.

They weren’t just holding hands. His eyes followed them as they sat together on the couch after going up to him, Peter, and Sam to greet them. They sat on the farthest end of the couch, keeping their fingers intertwined. He watched as Thor pulled Banner into his lap. Banner let out a small yelp before grinning, wrapping his arms around Thor’s neck, kissing his temple, and relaxed into him as Thor heled him by his hips, pulling him closer so his beer belly was pressing against his side.

His experience with the 21st century was limited. He hadn’t had the chance to really experience anything after his brainwashing, but he couldn’t say that was one of the things he’d expected. When he was young, two men wouldn’t dream of making their affection obvious. Of course men like that – like them – existed but if you made it obvious to the people around you, it was its own danger. Of course there would be whispers and rumours about the two women living down the street who never seemed to find husbands, or the two men on that one farm miles from the nearest town.

This wasn’t that. This was obvious. Like potential consequences weren’t something they considered ever slightly.

“What’re you staring at?” Sam asked, nudging his arm.

He blinked, looking away quickly. “Nothing.” He said it too quickly, too abruptly, too much pitch. It made Peter look up from portable phone and even Banner and Thor in his direction.

“You okay?” Banner asked, raising his brow. His arms were still looped around Thor’s neck.

After a moment, everyone seemed to go back to what they were doing. He stood up and left the room before he felt like he was going to explode.

* * *

“What was that?” Thor frowned, staring at the door Bucky had left through.

“Yeah, that was a little weird for him,” Sam noted. “I mean, he’s a little jumpy sometimes from the whole brainwashing thing but yeah, it was weird.”

Bruce stayed silent, staring at the door too. He didn’t know Bucky all that well, what he did know was that he was from the ’40s. That was probably the last thing he remembered before the Hydra brainwashed him.

He knew he was watching him and Thor. And since the ’40s were obviously a really different time, he might’ve not been used to seeing obviously romantic affection between to men.

It didn’t feel like it was out of homophobia or disgust. Something in him told him that. It was surprise in a way it was something you hoped to see but never thought you would.

“I’m gonna go check on him,” he said and stood up from Thor’s lap, holding his hands for a few seconds before dropping it. “I think I know what’s wrong.”

Thor looked up at him. “How so?”

He bent down and pecked his lips. “I’ll explain later.” Because Thor had about zero clue about earth’s homophobia. Maybe he’d kind of understand after he explained it briefly to him. Being queer was pretty normal on Asgard, he knew even attempting to explain it to him would be like trying to explain gamma radiation.

He could start with Bucky. Something in him told him he needed to know things had changed. That kids Peter’s age didn’t have to deal with the things he did when he was fifteen. Where you buried any sense of queerness and pretended your parents casual homophobia didn’t feel like a knife was diving through your heart. You just went upstairs to your room as the latest news story about the AIDs crisis came on the news and hid incriminating magazines you stole from the local corner shop under your bed.

He opened the door that Bucky went through. It lead to the kitchen, and he saw Bucky had taken out a bag of chips. He was still kind of erratic, nervously stuffing them into his mouth.

“You okay?”

Bucky almost jumped at his words. He looked up at him and tensed a little.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you.”

He shook his head. “I’m sorry. Uh, just didn’t hear you come in.”

He nodded and made his way to the counter. “I guess me and Thor… surprised you?”

Bucky looked at him and looked down at his bag of chips. “I uh… I…” he was stammering he words out. “I’m sorry. I just thought it was still something you put under the rug.”

Bruce kept his face calm. “I get it,” he nodded. “Do you know how things have changed?”

He blinked at him. “Wait, things have… changed?”

He nodded. “Well, best place to start; not illegal anymore.”

Even that seemed to be too much for Bucky, he sat on one of the stools and put his upper body weight on the counter.

“It’s… it’s not?”

And that was when it hit him. Bucky was most definitely gay or bi. He grew up before there were gay magazines to hide under your bed. This would be big for him, inconceivable even.

He made his way to sit next to him. “I’ll be honest, things aren’t perfect. There’s still shitty people out there, but the general population? In America at least, they don’t care.”

He snorted. “Next you’re gonna tell me homosexuals can get married.”

He went silent for a moment, hoping his silence was an answer.

Bucky’s eyes widened. “You’re kidding.” The best way to describe how he looked was in disbelief. And he couldn’t blame him, a lot could happen in eighty years.

“Again, I don’t want you to like, assume things are perfect. It’s just better.”

“But you and Thor can be together without judgement.” He said it more like a fact than a question.

“Uh… I would say the run of the mill homophobe who thinks Thor is too much of man or whatever to be into men would have something to say about it. But for the most part, nah. Nowadays it’s more sociably unacceptable to be homophobic.”

He nodded slowly. “I’m gonna assume that words means hating homosexuals?”

He tried to not flinch at hearing the word again. “Yeah, and also, uh, I guess since we’re learning, use gay. That’s what people use now.”

He blinked. “Gay?” he echoed.

He nodded. “Yep.”

“So you’d call yourself gay?”

“As an adjective every now and again I guess, but no. I like women too so label wise, I use bisexual.”

Bucky looked at him, as if it was the first time he’d ever heard the concept existed. “I didn’t know that was a thing.”

He shrugged. “Some people still struggle wrapping their heads around it.”

“But wouldn’t that change things? If you can be with women why wouldn’t you?”

He knew he was curious, and he’d gotten the question before. Only this time he had patience with the person. “I couldn’t turn off how I feel about men. And I wouldn’t say being bi made things easier. It didn’t. Even more so, when I had girlfriends it killed me to bury how I felt about men. I hated hiding it. Because even with girls, I still wasn’t straight– heterosexual. I also just didn’t want to hide it. It made me feel worse. But obviously things worked out fine for me.”

He was still staring at him and he let him process the information. It was a whole new world to him and that could be a lot.

“I pretended to like women,” he finally said. “I… tried so hard to but I never felt anything. Men though? I always got that feeling I heard my friends talk about. Even just by looking at them.”

He nodded along, even though he couldn’t completely understand. But Bucky definitely needed an empathetic person right now.

“I never told anyone. Not even Steve. It was way too dangerous.”

“Well, now I know.” He patted his arm in comfort. “And you don’t have to tell people if you don’t want to.”

“Thanks,” he said and took a deep breath. “I want to say it once.” He cleared his throat and opened his mouth. It took a few moments for any words to come out. “I… I like men.”

Bruce smiled. “Feel good?”

He met his eye and nodded. “Yeah. Not going to be screaming it on a rooftop any time soon though.”

“You’ll get there.” He stood up. “I’m going back to Thor, but if you need anything just ask.”

He gave a smile, a grateful one. “Thanks Banner. And… happy for you and Thor. How did that happen? I don’t remember you being together when we were in Wakanda.”

He flushed but he still smiled. “That’s a story for another day.”


End file.
